The Early Escape
by messymissy
Summary: What if after all the X-5's were born their parents decided to try to get them out? FINAL CHAPTER ADDED! (This is my first fic so the writing's not really good. I plan to edit it, but haven't done so yet.) :p
1. Bye Baby

Title: The Early Escape  
  
By: messymissy  
  
Summary: What if after all the X-5's were born their parents came to get them out?  
  
Rated: PG  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything about this story except for some of the ideas and the people who I make up for this fic. The rest belong to the show's owner and FOX.  
  
Notes: I know that Guevara the last name that Max just picked but I'm just going to use it for her parent's last name to make things easier. 452 is Max and 599 is Zack. **************************************************************************** *  
  
A group of sinister looking people was approaching her swiftly after the careless lab nurse gave the woman her baby. "Rolland what do you think you're doing? She's the last of the X-5 series but that doesn't mean that you can start being soft now! Get 452 away from her now and take her to the nursery where the others are!" said the leader of the group.  
  
"You evil people stay way from me and my baby!" the woman screamed clutching tightly to her newborn baby.  
  
"Men, restrain her immediately! Rolland why haven't you taken 452 yet?"  
  
The men grabbed the woman and held her down while Rolland took the baby from her.  
  
"NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" she cried sobbing.  
  
"Don't be upset Mrs. Guevara. Your daughter will be well taken cared of. Besides, you and your husband will now be able to leave soon. Doesn't that make you happy?" said the man cruely.  
  
"You tricked us Lydecker! You tortured Rick and me into staying! You tricked us to come here just so you can take our baby and turn her into an experiment!" she yelled angrily.  
  
"Make her go to sleep! I've had enough of her chatter," Lydecker said before he left.  
  
"Don't you dare stick that needle in me! You won't get away with what you did to everyone here Lydecker! You'll be sor......" she yelled before everything went black before her eyes as she fell into an unwilling sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
"How's 452?" asked Lydecker.  
  
"She's a strong one sir," said Rolland.  
  
"Good. Make sure all of them are well taken cared of by all of the caretakers here. You will assist them to classes until they are able to attend themselves. The first class will be held next week, and from then on the lessons will be every other day. Any questions?"  
  
"How can they learn now they are just babies?"  
  
"You know as well as I do that they are smarter, faster, stronger, and develope faster than normal children. From the looks of 599, it proves that they are just that. He can already hit hard, do algelbra, make the guards chase after him with a hard time, and he could sit perfectly when he was only two months old! He's only three years older than 452 and he knows how to do those things while the official training hasn't started yet! Starting next week we are going to train all of them as a group so they'll develope together so 599 is the best now but once the others grow they'll be as good as he is. Now get to work. You understand why now or do you need things completely explained to you each time there is somethings to be done?" Lydecker said irritated.  
  
"I understand sir! I'll start taking care of them now and I'll tell the other nurses what you told me!"  
  
"Good! I'll also be working with them also, tell them to stay out of the way when I come!"  
  
"Yes, sir!"  
  
**************************************************************************** * Please tell me what you think about this! This is the first fanfic I've ever written and I'd love to hear from you! 


	2. The Number

Title: The Early Escape  
  
By: messymissy  
  
Note: 210 is Jondy  
  
(For other info. go to chapter one.)  
  
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It was dark and quiet. She snuck out of the nursery into the basement where the captive was. The security men have just past and won't be there again for about 15 minutes. It left her just enough time to do what she needed to do. She opened the door to the captive's room. He was awake.  
  
"What do you want?" he asked abruptly.  
  
"Shhhhhhh. Not so loud. I'm here to help you," she said.  
  
"Help me? Why are you helping me? You're with them."  
  
"Listen we don't have much time. They'll be back any minute so pay attention to what I have to say. First answer this, do you want your baby?"  
  
"Want? What do you think? We wouldn't have fought so hard against them if we didn't want it!"  
  
"Okay. Then do exactly as I say. When you and your wife leave here leave peacefully and act as if you didn't care about what happened here. After you leave, if you want your baby back, call this number. It's 1800SLYONE1."  
  
"1800 sly one one? How are you suppose to do that?"  
  
"It's 1800 S L Y O N E and the number 1. It's time for me to go, and remember."  
  
"Who are you and what are we suppose to do afterwards?" he asked.  
  
"My name is May Rolland. You'll find out more about me when you call the number. They'll tell you what to do," replied Rolland.  
  
"Thank you Ms. Rolland."  
  
She just smiled and left.  
  
* * *  
  
The room was dark. 599 felt restless and worried. The nurse brought in another girl for him to take care of and she was placed in the same little bed as 210.  
  
The last nurse left and the others were nowhere else to be seen. It was time for him to check on everyone.  
  
He slowly left his bed. He walked slowly by all of the beds and just petted every single one of them and made sure they were warm for he doesn't trust most of the nurses.  
  
Finally, he reached 452 and 210's bed. He saw that they were wide awake.  
  
"Why aren't you two sleeping?" he said softly.  
  
They just looked at each other and giggled.  
  
"I put you to sleep now. You need to rest before they start teaching us things," he said while lifting both of them into his arms.  
  
"599! What are you doing?"  
  
"Shhhhhhhhhhh! I'm helping them go to sleep. You don't want the others to wake up do you Nurse Rolland?" he asked.  
  
"No. Go on. I know that you are the only one who can get 210 to sleep. I'll take 452."  
  
"No. They are the same. I'll get them to sleep."  
  
"Okay. Okay. It's no use arguing with you child. They all like you better than us anyway," she consented. So she just stood back and watched them.  
  
599 rocked the two wide-eyed babies until they drifted off to sleep. He put them down and smiled at them.  
  
  
  
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Thank you for reading! Please review and tell me what you think!  
  
I really appreciate the reviews I got for the first chapter! They meant a lot to me because I was kind of nervous about posting things and didn't know how everything will turn out! 


	3. Leaving Manticore

Title: The Early Escape  
  
By: messymissy  
  
(For other info. go to part 1.)  
  
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A WEEK LATER  
  
The cell door opened and a guard came in. "Come with me," he said. "You can leave now Guevara."  
  
He stood up and followed the guard out and into the main building.  
  
"Rick!" cried a woman.  
  
"Lily!" exclaimed Rick, rushing towards her and took her into a crushing embrace. "Lily, don't say anything until we leave. Pretend you don't care and are glad that we are able to leave. I'll explain later," he whispered to her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just trust me."  
  
The guards came up to them and led them to the door where Lydecker was standing. "You are free to go now," he said, smiling unfeelingly. "Don't look so angry Mrs. Guevara. You daughter is in great hands."  
  
Rick led her past Lydecker quickly and out the door and into the cab, which took them to them to a hotel.  
  
* * *  
  
MEANWHILE BACK AT MANTICORE...  
  
"Listen up everyone! Soldiers, get the equipment ready for the first training and make sure that the electricians check and double-checked all of the machines. We don't want anything to go wrong. Nurses, bring the X- 5's to the training room at 1pm sharp and pick them up at 7pm and don't be late. Make sure they are as ready as can be for training. From the time they are in the classroom to the time they leave, you can do as you like, but be prepared for when they come back. Understood!" ordered Lydecker.  
  
"Yes, sir!" they all answered and left to do their job.  
  
* * *  
  
AT THE HOTEL  
  
The Guevaras arrived at the hotel. No words were spoken during the whole trip there. They quickly got a room and went to it.  
  
"We should rest here for tonight. You're probably exhausted," said Rick.  
  
"How could you? How could you let them take our daughter without a fight or a word against it? Don't you care about her?" asked Lily crying softly.  
  
"Oh, honey I do care about her it's just that we wouldn't have gotten a chance to get her back if we just threatened them or fought against them. They'll over power us and we're outnumbered. We might even get killed."  
  
"That's it huh? Just because of that we can't even try? She's our baby! I can't believe you didn't even try to get her out."  
  
"Just let me explain. I only did what I did and told you to not fight because last week a nurse came into my cell and told me that if we wanted to get our daughter back, to not resist and leave peacefully."  
  
"And you believed her!" Lily interrupted. "She probably just told you that so we wouldn't cause a problem for them! You were tricked Rick!"  
  
"Wait! I'm not done yet. I really think she was trying to help us and now that I think of it, it was probably a good idea not to cause a scene because if we do want to get her back, they'll probably won't expect us to do anything if we were calm. Another reason to why I think she's helping us is that she gave me a number to call once we got out of there. Do you really think Lily, that if she really didn't want to help us that she'd actually do that? And when I saw her, I felt that I could trust her."  
  
"Do you think that we're going to get our daughter back?" Lily said sadly.  
  
"Don't worry. We'll get her back someday," answered Rick giving his wife a hug.  
  
"When are we going to call? What's suppose to happen when we call the number?"  
  
"We'll call tomorrow, but I'm not really sure about what's going to happen. Nurse Rolland only told me to call it if we wanted to get our daughter out and that we'll find out more about her when we do. Now get some rest. We need some strength for tomorrow," said Rick kissing his wife on the forehead.  
  
"I'm glad you're okay, Rick. I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
They both laid down and went to sleep.  
  
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Have any comments, suggestions, or notice anything I need to improve on? Let me know so I can fix it!  
  
Review please! 


	4. The Call

Title: The Early Escape  
  
By: messymissy  
  
Note: I made up the names of some of the things in this chapter so I don't know if they really exist. THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS EVERYONE! (Just so you know, I'm not planning to do any pairings with the X-5's right now because I think that I'm going to end this after their parents break them out.)  
  
(For other information go to Part 1.)  
  
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Rick felt the sun on his face. He opened his eyes. He looked over at Lily who was still asleep after such a horrible time at Manticore. She looked years older. She had a grim look on her once cheerful, rosy face that now was pale with circles that were still visible under her eyes. He put the blanket more securely around her and kissed her on her cheek. He lifted his face from her's and saw that she was awake.  
  
"Morning," she said.  
  
"Morning. How'd you sleep?"  
  
"Better than I have in a long time. It helps that there's a chance in getting her back."  
  
"Did you name her Lily?"  
  
"No. I didn't want to name her if she was just going to be taken away, I thought that it would just be too painful."  
  
"I understand honey. We can name her when we get her back."  
  
"When do we call the number?"  
  
"We can call it now if you want," he replied.  
  
"Okay."  
  
Rick picked up the phone and dialed the number. A man picked up after the second ring. "Hello?"  
  
"Um, hi. I was given this number to cal...," Rick started.  
  
"What's your name?" he interrupted.  
  
"Rick Guevara."  
  
"Ah, Guevara! I was expecting your call. I believe that you want your baby back?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Okay then. Are you still in Wyoming and if you are where are you?"  
  
"Yes, and my wife and I are at the Roadway Inn in the town of Raily about 50 miles from Gillette."  
  
"Suspected that, but I had to make sure. Go to the town square and sit on the bench that's under a tree near the fountain in an hour. I'll meet you there with more information."  
  
"How will you know it's us?"  
  
"I'll know," he answered and hung up before Rick could ask any more questions.  
  
"What did they say Rick?" asked Lily eagerly.  
  
"He told to meet him in an hour in the town square and that he'll have more information for us about how to get our daughter back. He didn't say a lot more besides that."  
  
"Oh, I hope he has something for us. When should we leave?"  
  
"Now," he replied.  
  
* * *  
  
AT MANTICORE  
  
"How are the X-5's doing? Are they working well with all their lesson equipment?" asked Lydecker.  
  
"They are doing well, sir! There are no problems between them and the equipment. They seem to be learning and developing quite nicely," answered the technician.  
  
"Good. They're going to be the best soldiers the world has ever seen. These children are quite strong and intelligent. Report to me of their improvements and if there are any problems you here! Make sure the others get the message too."  
  
"Yes, sir!"  
  
* * *  
  
45 MINUTES LATER  
  
The Guevaras arrived at the town square. They found the fountain and the bench and went to it and sat down and waited.  
  
After about five minutes, Lily asked, "Why isn't he here yet? Where is he?"  
  
"Be patient honey. It hasn't even been an hour yet. We still have about 10 minutes," he said, looking at his watch impatiently.  
  
"I know, but why does time have go by so slowly! I'm just excited and it's just so hard to wait!"  
  
"I know, I know."  
  
Ten minutes later they saw a man in a leather coat with light-brown hair approach them.  
  
"You're the Guevaras right?  
  
"Yes," they answered.  
  
"I'm Drake Thompson," he said.  
  
"I'm Rick and this is my wife Lily," said Rick.  
  
"I know. Ms. Rolland told us about you. She said that you also want you're child back."  
  
"Yes, we do," said Lily, "but what do you mean by also?"  
  
"I'll explain later. It isn't safe to talk in public. How did you get here?"  
  
"Cab."  
  
"Okay, then come with me. We'll talk in my car while we head to our location. It's secret so you better keep it that way."  
  
"We will. Where are we going?"  
  
"You'll see. I'll tell you after we talk. After you decide if you want to go through with it or not. Otherwise why know our secret place?"  
  
"Our? Who else is going to be there?" asked Rick.  
  
"I already told you. Not now. Wait until we're in the car," answered Drake.  
  
They arrived at the car and went in. Drake started it up and started driving.  
  
"Now will you answer our questions?" asked Lily.  
  
"Yes," he replied.  
  
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What do you think?  
  
Review please! 


	5. The Talk

Title: The Early Escape  
  
By: messymissy  
  
Notes: As you all have probably all guessed, Thompson was Zack's new last name that he got in the show. I'm using the other X-5's that I know the names and maybe numbers of from the '09 escape, keeping the 12 as the number of X-5's in the unit even though I know that there were some who didn't escape or were killed just to make things easier to keep track of, made up the X-5's parents' names and some of the X-5's names, and instead of having more transgenic groups, I've decided to make this fic have only this X-5 group instead of more.  
  
(For other information go to part 1.)  
  
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Silence filled the car.  
  
After about five minutes Rick asked, "Well, aren't you going to answer our questions and tell us what we're going to have to go through with to get our daughter back?"  
  
"Of course," Drake replied. "I was just giving you time to think things over before I told you anything. So what do you want to know?"  
  
"When we were talking by the bench, you mentioned something about 'our secret place' and when you asked us if we wanted our baby back, you also said 'also' so that kind of made me suspect that there are others like us. Others that have had their children taken away from them by Manticore and want them back. Is this true? Because when we were their I always thought that their were more babies because of the way they talked while they thought I wasn't listening," said Lily.  
  
"You're right. There are others who want their child back, and I'm one of them. My wife and I are the parents of the oldest child there. They called him 599. They called your daughter 452 right?"  
  
"Yes, they did," replied Lily.  
  
"They had numbers? Why didn't you tell me Lily?" asked Rick.  
  
"I..I just forgot. I was just so distressed about them taking her away that I didn't tell you. I didn't think it would matter. To think, our child has to be just a string of numbers! They don't care about her or the other!"  
  
"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to upset you. I understand, it's horrible thinking that children are just referred to as numbers there."  
  
"Yes it is," replied Drake sadly. "The people who I was referring to before are most of the X-5's parents. Most of them were taken away from parents who really wanted them and loved them while a pair of twins were just given to the people at Manticore by their uncaring parents."  
  
"That's horrible!" cried Lily. "I can't believe that they willing to gave their child to Manticore for those scientists to experiment on!"  
  
"Mr. Thompson, you said that there are a bunch of parents at the secret location you were talking about, but I don't see how that's going to help get our children back and you haven't told us what we are suppose to do either. By the way, why did you call the kids X-5's?"  
  
"Mr. Guevara, just call me Drake. I haven't explained to you what we are going to do because I've been answering your questions and giving you all the other information that you want to know first. After I answer them, then I'll tell you so you can pick if you want to do it or not, but from what I can tell to far, you sound ready to do anything to get your daughter back. And to answer your question about calling the kids X-5's, it's just what they call them there so we decided to call the whole group that because even though they are our children, they're different than normal children and as much as we hate to say it, it's what they are."  
  
"Oh, so that's what they are, huh?" said Rick understandingly. "They have to be something don't they?" he smiled sadly. "X-5's. At least they weren't named something like The Human Monster." Lily shuddered. "By the way, you can call us by our first names too, Drake."  
  
"Okay, any more questions?"  
  
"Yes. This has been bothering me for a long time now," said Rick. "Why did the nurse help us? Isn't she suppose to be on their side? Who is she?"  
  
"She told us that you might ask about her. You already know that her name is May Rolland, right?" Drake asked. They nodded. "Well, she just so happens to be my wife's sister. She was a nurse too before she went to work at Manticore and the only reason she wanted to take the job there was to help us get our boy back after they took him from us. She worked there to find out more about Manticore and what they are doing there, and to watch him for us. She told us that we couldn't get him back by ourselves even with her help because there were soldiers all around Manticore guarding it from strangers and to keep their prisonors in. We realized that it would be too dangerous for him and us if we tried to get him out so May stayed there with him ever since. Not long after she started to work there, she discovered that we weren't the only people that they were taking babies from. She learned that for what they were doing they needed babies that were still in the mother's womb and it was so hard to get willing mothers that they had to kidnap them. So the result of that would be a bunch of broken-hearted parents. That was when she came up with the idea of getting all of the parents who want their children back to team up with each other after they leave Manticore to devise a plan to get them out and to stop Manticore from hurting any more families and experimenting on any more children. She's been working undercover there to get information for us ever since. We have been gathering parents and working on the plan for nearly three years now and now that we know that your child is the last one they are going to take for now, all we had to do was wait for you to come so we can finish up our plan and train you for the attack on Manticore. Now all we need to know is do you want to be involved in this and that you realize that if you do go through with this it's going to be hard and dangerous."  
  
Lily and Rick looked at each other for a minute. Then Rick answered for them determinedly, "We'll do whatever it takes to stop Manticore and help get all of our children back no matter what the risks are."  
  
"Glad to hear that. We all thought so from what May told us, but we had to make sure you understood the danger in what we're going to do." While he was saying this, Drake turned off the road into a forest. "We're almost there. You'll get more details on what we're going to do when we reach our designation. You'll get a room all to yourself for living and if you want to help plan things or do anything, you can, and you're going to need to learn how to use some equipment, weapons, and some fighting skills just in case. It's for your own safety when we take Manticore down. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of people to help you. We're all still practicing and working on things," he said with a reassuring smile towards them.  
  
Just then Drake stopped the car. They were in a cleared-out section deep inside a forest. In the middle of the spacious area was a one-story, fairly large in length and width cabin.  
  
They got out of the car and walked towards the cabin. When they reached the door Drake said, "Welcome to our base," and opened the door.  
  
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Did this turn out okay? I hope it wasn't confusing or very boring. I hope that this was enjoyable to you!  
  
Review and tell me what you think if you want! 


	6. As Time Passes & The Plan

Title: The Early Escape  
  
By: messymissy  
  
(For other information, go to part 1.)  
  
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Inside the cabin there were a bunch of people around busily and talking. There must be about over 50 people there. They took no notice of the Guevaras or Drake.  
  
"I can't believe that all these people are parents of X-5's!" said Lily.  
  
Drake replied with a chuckle, "They aren't. Only 22 of us are, the rest are friends or relatives who want to help. There are only 12 X-5's anyway!"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"What's going on around here anyway?" asked Rick.  
  
"Looks like a break. Almost everyone's in here. We're all preparing for the attack and making plans, as you know. We're almost done with it and need to perfect it. You also need to be trained."  
  
As he talked, he led them through the halls and stopped at the door. "This is your room. In there you'll find a board above the table. It tells you what you're going to do for the next few weeks with the training. Other than the training times, you can do as you like, eat when you want, talk, practice things, and etc. This is only for these first weeks until you're use to everything. Train hard Rick and Lily. We don't want anything to go wrong when we do this. We expect to attack in three months or less. The sooner you're trained well, the sooner we can go through with the attack. Now, if you need anything, just ask around. Everyone here can help you. We all work together in this. I need to get going now. I want to see how far everyone else got with the weapons and plans."  
  
"Thanks. Um, Drake, you seem to be doing a lot and are very busy. Why don't you rest a while?"  
  
"I can't. I have to do something. I just can't stay still and wait around. It gives me too much time to think about what happened. This way I know that there's hope and that we might be able to get what we lost back. A lot of people here feel the same way too."  
  
"You don't have to worry about us. We're going to work really hard at the trainings so that we'd be able to get all of our children back as soon as we can. Maybe sooner than planned too," said Rick.  
  
"Good, the sooner we get them out, the better," he said and left.  
  
* * *  
  
AS TIME PASSES AT THE CABIN  
  
During the next few weeks at the cabin, the Guevaras met all of the other people there who were to help with the attack. They trained hard everyday during their training sessions and afterward. They helped with the final touches of the plan and finally, they were finished.  
  
Now they went over every aspect of the plan of guarding, sneakiness, protection, retrieval, communications between everyone, attacks (if need be), and who was to do what. Everyone was assigned a job. The Guevaras were assigned to be on the retrieval team along with six others. The rest will stand watch, work the computers for the break-in and watch, go in to set bombs all around Manticore, destroy their studies, and take out the soldiers there and Lydecker. Ms. Rolland will help with the retrieval and help with more inside reports and information.  
  
"Everyone knows the plan now and what they're suppose to do," said Drake. "Pack what we need in the cars, now and get some rest. Last preparations are tomorrow morning, then we set off for Gillette. Secure your locations there and wait until 10:00pm to strike. Keep radio contact and when we go in, only contact when you have succeeded your mission or need backup. The place blows at exactly 10:30pm if the children are out or when all has reported safely in. Everyone understand?"  
  
A bunch of yeses echoed in room.  
  
"Good. The attack on Manticore is now on!"  
  
Loud commotions and excited sounds followed that exclamation. Everyone was anxious for what's going to happen the next day.  
  
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This probably sucked, but I had to tell how the Guevaras got settled and what they did at the base but didn't want to write about every single day they were there until the attack because that will probably bore you even more! 


	7. Events Surrounding the Attack on Mantico...

Title: The Early Escape  
  
By: messymissy  
  
Note: SORRY FOR THE WAIT EVERYONE! THANKS FOR BEING SO PATIENT! LAST CHAPTER'S UP ON THIS STORY. HOPE YOU ALL LIKE THE ENDING! Just pretend that the security on Manticore isn't that strong because the X-5's are just little kids and so Manticore thinks that it wouldn't be necessary. Besides, they weren't planning on being attacked any time soon.  
  
(For other information, go to part 1.)  
  
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THE NEXT MORNING  
  
From dawn to before noon reviews and checks were made about what were needed for the attack and what was to be done. They all have been preparing this for a long while now, and they are finally ready. The air around them was full of anticipation, excitement, nervousness, and slight fear and dread of what might happen. But even though they felt this way, they were still determined and there was not a doubt or regret in their minds about what they are about to do. None of them are going to back down without a fight.  
  
Everything was now ready. Everyone knew what they were suppose to do. They all prepared to leave. Each person climbed into the van or vans in which they were assigned to depending on what they were to do.  
  
The defense teams went first, each on different routes there a few minutes apart. They were to get there first and hack into Manticore's security systems, mainframe, and set up defense for the attack in their favor around the perimeter. They are to do this in preparation for the attack later on so they'd be able to control what the Manticore cameras saw and disarm the equipment that notifies Manticore of a break-in while the others start to enter Manticore for the retrieval of the children and the destruction of the horrible corporation.  
  
After the defense left, the others slowly followed. They had to make sure that their arrival to Gillette was inconspicuous or they'd be found out by Manticore before they even had a chance to try to get their children back.  
  
Everyone arrived one by one. They headed towards their given locations all around Manticore. The retrieval team was specifically placed on the west side of the perimeter for that was where they'd be the closest to where the X-5's were held.  
  
They were all ready now. All they had to do was wait and hide until it was time to strike. While they were doing so, they went over everything over and over again to make sure there weren't any flaws.  
  
* * *  
  
HOURS LATER AT 10 BEFORE 10PM  
  
The radio crackled. "Everyone ready?" asked Drake.  
  
"Ready as we'll ever be," came the answer.  
  
"Okay, we head in there in less than 10 minutes. I'll give the order to when to go and you all will switch to the headgear and sign in that you got the message. Don't make contact again until you either did what you did and left already or need back up. Remember to press the button on the headgear before you speak or else whatever you need will be unheard. We have a short time to do what we have to do. Good luck everyone," he told them all.  
  
During the last few minutes, everyone prepared for what they were to do. They got their gears ready and the attackers and retrievers started to creep closer to the perimeter fence in which they were to enter with plenty of weapons and ammo. The defense got ready to stall for time before the people inside of Manticore discovered about their entrance. A small group of them also went with the retrieval team just in case they ran into trouble so they can fight the Manticore soldiers off while the others got the children out.  
  
At exactly 10pm, Drake signaled everyone through their communicators. "Go," he said and everyone began to do what they were there to do.  
  
Defense switched off all of the alarm systems and put under their control the cameras. They made sure all of Manticore's equipment looked as if they were acting normal even though they're not.  
  
The attackers and the retrieval team entered Manticore though holes in the gate that they had cut earlier. Their timing was perfect for the guards were out of sight at the moment so they could get in undetected.  
  
Attack team began to set up bombs and dynamite as they entered and went through the large building from all four sides, while the retrieval team headed toward where the nursery was. They just reached the door to the nursery when suddenly the radio crackled.  
  
"East side has been detected by a few guards! We're now fending them off! Work quickly before the whole building is notified of our being here!"  
  
Everyone started to work quicker. Retrieval now opened the door to the nursery without much caution for Nurse Rolland had called in before and told them that she'd have all of the other nurses out of there when they came.  
  
"Good, you made it in all right," she said. "We have to leave quickly before the others come back! Going out will be a lot harder than coming in here."  
  
A few of the people of the retrieval team rushed around the room to set up the bombs while the others each tried to grab some of the children.  
  
The children struggled at first and pushed the adults away so none of them got a hold of the children.  
  
"What's going on here, Nurse Rolland?" asked the child called 599. "Why are these people here to take us away? We won't come with you."  
  
Many of the other children agreed, but then 210 and 452 crawled over closer to the adults. 452 said, as she looked at Lily, "I know you. I 'member you. You held me and tried to keep me 'way from the colonel."  
  
"I 'member you too," said 210 to a woman with the same big blue eyes as she did. "You want keep me."  
  
"You remember!" they both cried happily as they both went forward to hug their children. This time they were welcome.  
  
"You better not hurt them!" cried 599. "You still did not answer my question Nurse."  
  
"These people are some of your parents, dear. They came to take you away from here so you'd have a better life. Your mom and dad aren't here right now, but I'm your aunt and I've been watching you. Please come with us. You don't want to stay here and you know the people here are too hard on all of you. You won't ever have to worry about the others not being treated right by the colonel ever again. Your parents love you, they want you back."  
  
"They love us?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, now please come and don't resist."  
  
He looked at everyone in the room. He looked at 452 and 210 with two of the adults. "Okay, I trust you and believe what you say. I see it right here. We'll come."  
  
"Good, now come on," she said as she extended a hand out to him for she knew he would not want to be carried.  
  
Just then the radio crackled again.  
  
"We've knocked a few of them out now! Wait! There's one rushing off! They're going to go notify everyone and set off a manual alarm!"  
  
One of the adults then said, "We have to hurry! We don't have time to just stay here! We have to get out now!"  
  
Everyone started to run out of the nursery. Nurse Rolland with 599 by the hand and the other adult with one or two of the other X-5's in their arms. They snuck quickly through the halls towards the door in which they came in.  
  
Then suddenly loud alarms started to blare!  
  
They knew it was no use trying to sneak around now so they ran as fast as they could to the door.  
  
"Soldiers are heading towards the nursery! Are you all clear retrieval?" came the warning from defense.  
  
"Yes," Rick replied. "We're at the exit door now with all the kids!"  
  
"Good," came the replied. Then they said, "Listen up all teams! Evacuate Manticore premises immediately! Once all has signed in, this place blows! No more contact until you signal!"  
  
They all reached the door and swung it open. A guard stood there with his gun drawn. Before he could do anything though, 599 tripped him and one of the adults knocked him unconscious and took his gun.  
  
"Hey! I could have done that!" 599 objected.  
  
"Thought I'd help," came the reply.  
  
They all rushed out of the door and ran for the fence. There were floodlights everywhere, but they didn't care. They reached the hole in the fence and went straight through.  
  
"Retrieval team's out of Manticore!" Lily radioed in. "We're heading back to the van."  
  
"Good."  
  
They all ran towards the location to where the van on that side of Manticore was. There were hectic sounds far behind them which were heard from out there. It looked like the Manticore soldiers discovered that all the X-5's were all missing.  
  
"Everyone duck and cover! Last team has signed in. Manticore blows in 10 seconds!"  
  
"Everyone down!" exclaimed an adult in their group. 10...9...  
  
The adults and children all ducked behind nearby trees. 8...7...6...5... They all laid low and covered their heads. 4...3...2...1...  
  
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Manticore was blown into tiny bits. Smoke and fire was where Manticore had before stood. They all got up and continued to walk back to the vans without a backwards glance. When they got there, they were met with excitement!  
  
"We did it!" someone cried. "Get into the vans! We're going back to base to celebrate!"  
  
They all got into the vans and drove back to the base. The children just sat there in awe as if this couldn't be happening. The parents that were there hugged their children ferociously.  
  
When they reached base, everyone else was already there. They all clamored around the vans as the children stepped out. Each and every one of them were rushed at in happiness, even the abandoned twins.  
  
They all pulled back. Drake then asked them, "Do you know who we are?"  
  
"Yes," replied 599 who was staring at Drake. "You're our parents, and I think that you're my father," he said as he stepped towards him.  
  
"Yes," answered Drake happily and he pointed to the woman next to him, "and this is your mother."  
  
599 stepped closer to them and the three of them hugged.  
  
While this was happening, all of the other children were reunited with their parents. The twins were now told by the nurse about their parents. They were very saddened by that because of all the others with their parents, but to their surprise, she said, "You don't need to look so unhappy, I'll take care of you. I can be like a mother to you if you want me to or I can just be like an aunt."  
  
They both liked the idea right away and they both pulled her into a crushing embrace.  
  
After the joyful reunion of their children, one of the parents asked, "Now what should all of these children of ours be called?"  
  
Just then all of the children giggled.  
  
"Now what are all of you laughing about?" asked a genuinely happy Drake.  
  
"We a'wady have names," answered 452.  
  
The adults were surprised there.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Ms. Rolland.  
  
"She means that we all ready have names. When we were back there, we noticed that all of the nursed, doctors, and soldiers had names, not numbers. So we decided to name ourselves."  
  
"You did, didn't you?" she replied.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"So what are your names?"  
  
"I'm Zack," he answered.  
  
"Max," answered 452.  
  
"Jondy," answered 210.  
  
"Krit and Jack," said both the twins.  
  
Then all at once there was a shout of names.  
  
"Eva."  
  
"Tinga."  
  
"Zane."  
  
"Ben."  
  
"Syl."  
  
"Brin."  
  
"Jace."  
  
"You do all have names!" cried Lily. "It looks like now we won't have to give you all names that you'll have to get use to!"  
  
"That's right!" Max said as she looked up at her parents, smiling. They both looked down at her with adoring eyes and pulled her into another embrace.  
  
For the rest of the night, both children and parents thought about each other and how they were finally able to be with each other again after such a long time and harsh experiences.  
  
* * *  
  
THE NEXT DAY  
  
Everyone crowded around outside. They all shook hands and congratulated each other for what each of them had done in the process of getting their children back. They were all preparing to go their separate ways to live their lives as normal as possible as a family. They were getting ready to start their lives over again in a different location away from Gillette and all the bad memories of the past.  
  
Good-byes were sad for the adult and children. The adult have become close friends in the time in which they planned to get back their children. They have bonded and strived for what they wanted and worked long, hard and well together to achieve it.  
  
The children were strong about leaving each other, but they knew that they would all miss each other. They grew up for the first part of their lives together and from each other was the only place where they found love, comfort, and support in Manticore. They were each other's everything back there and they all cared about each other deeply even though they've only lived for such a short time. They were a family all by themselves. Hugs and kisses were exchanged when they departed, but very few tears were shed. The older children had learned to never cry no matter what, but some of the younger ones slipped at times for they hadn't mastered it completely.  
  
"It's time to go Max and Jondy," called their parents. Both their families had planned to move to Northern California together to start over.  
  
"Bye," they said to their remaining friends.  
  
"Bye."  
  
Max's and Jondy's family got into a van which was now theirs. Just before the door was closed behind them, they both waved good-bye to everyone else.  
  
The car started up and they started to move away. They watched the others back at the cabin until they could no longer be seen. They left a bunch of their family behind, but they'll never be forgotten by any of them. Deep down in their hearts, they all knew that one day, they would all meet up again.  
  
**************************** THE END *************************************  
  
Well, this story's finally done! I hope that you all have enjoyed reading this! Have a happy Holidays and a happy New Year!  
  
I'VE APPRECIATED ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS EVERYONE! YOUR SUPPORT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME! THANK YOU! A SPECIAL THANKS TO ROSIE WHO REVIEWED MOST OF THIS STORY'S CHAPTERS WITH ENCOURAGEMENT! 


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